WHEREAS the U.S. Surgeon General concluded that “secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard that causes premature death and disease”, and

WHEREAS Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer.

WHEREAS it is estimated that secondhand smoke caused nearly 34,000 heart disease deaths each year during 2005–2009 among adult nonsmokers in the United States.

WHEREAS Oklahoma state smoking law currently prohibits any municipality from adopting any ordinance which restricts indoor exposure to secondhand smoke to a greater extent than in state law, and

WHEREAS internal tobacco industry documents state that the section of our state smoking law that prohibits such local ordinances was passed by the Oklahoma State Legislature at the request of the tobacco industry, and

WHEREAS several extensive scientific studies have found that communities with workplace smoking bans have decreased hospital admissions for heart attacks within 12 months of the ban’s effective date, and

WHEREAS a scientific review of existing studies found that the prevalence of tobacco use was lower among young people exposed to smokefree policies, andWHEREAS eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke Oklahoma is a priority of the Oklahoma Health Improvement Plan, the Oklahoma State Board of Health, and many other health, civic and business groups have previously adopted similar resolutions or formal position statements

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust respectfully recommends that the state of Oklahoma has effective public policy to protect all Oklahoma workers from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in the workplace.